If you have customers (or you know who your customers are-slash-will be), you’re sitting a top a veritable gold mine of inspiration for messaging, copy, and content. While great customers are worth their weight in gold, they can also help you turn basic “blah” messaging into a golden elixir. Want another way to look at it? Think of your customers like alchemy for your business, using specific brand messaging ingredients to attract perfect-fit customers.
They’re full of important nuggets or “sticky” messages that will help you speak directly to their problems and motivations. In other words, simply tapping into your customers brains to understand what drives them to buy can help you solve any sales, marketing, or messaging gaps.
Ready to unearth those key brand messaging ingredients? Buckle up and pay attention to these tips so you can create wildly effective messaging.
Brand Messaging Ingredient #1:👂 Listen. Be Sherlock, not Watson
Imagine if Sherlock Holmes had a second career in marketing. His superpower? Listening!
To tap into the power of the improbable, it’s all about leaning into observation. Pay attention to what customers say about their problems everywhere they talk about them. On social media. In forums. With their friends. On sales calls. You’re getting the picture.
Brand Messaging Ingredient #2: 🙋 Ask specific questions
Ask them specific questions about why they hired you and what else they tried that didn’t work. Then watch their answers for patterns and themes. Dive into what they were feeling before they decided to hire you, and watch for statements like:
- “I was so tired of…”
- “I worried that…”
- “I wondered if…”
Be sure to cover what they were hoping to achieve after working with you, and what they want to do as a result. (If you’re doing a post-mortem, make sure to ask this as close to the project end as possible.)
Brand Messaging Ingredient #3: 👀 Referrals and Introductions
Referrals are not just about expanding your network. They’re mini-introductions, your business’ first date with potential clients. (You’re asking for them, right?) And guess what? Your customers are the perfect matchmakers! But it’s not just about getting new business. Pay attention to HOW your customers introduce you and talk about the problems you solve. The reasons here are twofold:
First: Voice of Customer data. You’ll get valuable insights into what people are looking for and how they talk about the solution. Because the problem you think you solve with your service may not be the problem they think you solve.
Second: Narrative, meet messaging. If your clients introduce you for a superpower you don’t want to be known for, then it’s time to focus your messaging on what you do want to be known for.
Brand Messaging Ingredient #4: 👁️🗨️ Reviews
In the first few sentences, we talked about sticky messaging. Reviews are one of the best mining opportunities you have in the gold mine of brand messaging research. And they don’t have to be reviews about your business. While you want to use those reviews to talk about what sets you apart, it’s also about uncovering more valuable information for how people talk about the problem, the solution, what they can do afterward…and competitive opportunities.
So while you had better be asking for reviews so you can makeover your messaging, pay attention to what people love (and don’t love) about the competition, and see if there are any opportunities for you to come out way, WAY ahead.
Brand Messaging Ingredient #5: 😙 The Element of Surprise
As you do your offboarding (you’re doing that, too, right?), if you only ask one question, make it be this one: “What surprised you about working with me/my team?” You’ll uncover all kinds of nuggets that you may not even know are valuable. For instance, I present all of my copy via Loom. I started doing it for MY benefit. However, clients were wowed by it and I was able to factor that into my marketing and messaging to distinguish myself from the competition.
How you keep track of these brand messaging ingredients doesn’t matter. Some people prefer options like Trello or Notion. Others prefer the simplicity of a Google doc to track the information, source, stage of customer journey, context, and patterns. (If you want my Messaging Makeover class and tracking system, you can purchase it here and learn more ways to identify sticky messaging.)
Once you have that info, what do you do with it? You start building a messaging platform based on which messages people need at different touchpoints and start working it into your marketing and operations to deliver a consistent experience to your audience. And that’s where I come in. Want to set up a time to talk through how I can help you fine-tune or revamp your message? Let’s talk.
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